The present invention relates to firearms and, in particular, to a firing mechanism for a machine gun.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,282,670 issued on Aug. 11, 1981 to R. D. Junker, there is disclosed an automatic firearm for caseless ammunition in which a bolt is slidable within a firing chamber of a receiver. The bolt has front and rear pockets which, respectively, receive a projectile (e.g., lead slug) and a propellant charge therebehind. The projectile carries a primer, and the front pocket communicates with the rear pocket. The bolt includes a striker projection which performs a two-stage firing operation, viz., initially pushing the projectile into its firing position and thereafter penetrating and igniting the primer. The products of combustion from that ignition are communicated with the rear pocket to ignite the propellant charge and thereby eject the projectile.
It would be desirable to provide a simplified actuating mechanism for advancing the bolt during both stages of the above-described two-stage advancement, while locking the bolt against premature recoiling.
Bolt actuators for firearms are known which include a toggle linkage for advancing a bolt as the toggle linkage is pivoted toward a straightened condition. However, such a toggle linkage requires the use of two arms pivotably interconnected, and steps must be taken to lock the toggle in place. It will be appreciated that in a situation where the bolt carries a striker projection, as disclosed in the above-referenced patent, the firing sequence is directly responsive to the travel of the bolt, as opposed to a situation where firing is produced by a separately actuable firing pin. In the latter case, it is relatively simple to lock the bolt before the firing pin is actuated. Such simplicity does not exist in the former case, however, since the bolt must be allowed to travel right up to the point of ignition. If ignition should occur prior to the locking of the toggle or bolt, the bolt may recoil prematurely.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to minimize or obviate problems of the above-discussed sort.
Another object is to provide a novel bolt-locking mechanism.
A further object is to provide a novel bolt-locking mechanism in conjunction with a bolt having an integral firing projectile.
An additional object is to provide such a novel mechanism which drives the bolt forwardly and locks it against premature recoil.